European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn met with a number of key stakeholder groups in the drive to improve access to scientific information produced in Europe. The Commissioner met separately with traditional scientific publishers, open access publishers, the open access community, and research funders and international organisations (see full list below).

Following the meetings, Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn said:
"Open access is about giving European taxpayers a better return on their €87 billion annual public investment in research and development. Broader and more rapid access to scientific papers and data will make it easier for researchers and businesses to build on the findings of public-funded research. This will boost Europe's innovation capacity and give citizens quicker access to the benefits of scientific discoveries.
I appreciate the fact that various groups who have a stake in this have met with me today. We had a very positive exchange and I had a chance to hear from all these groups first hand, following the publication of our Commission strategy on open access in July. I explained that the European Commission is absolutely committed to this policy and that we need to work together in order to implement open access in Horizon 2020. A close partnership is indispensable for the long-term success of this idea."
The meetings come following the publication of a Commission communication on access to scientific information in July. The Commission has proposed that open access will be the general principle for research funded under Horizon 2020, the future EU research programme beginning in 2014. It also recommended that Member States take a similar approach to the results of research funded under their own domestic programmes. The goal is for 60% of European publicly-funded research articles to be available under open access by 2016.